Miracle

I am married to one of those people that buy any new product in the grocery store.  He plots to order anything shown on an infomercial.

Plots?

Ya.  I would have to admit to being a little unsupportive in this area of matrimony.

We had the baconwave.

We had that instant counter top meat defroster.

We had several varieties of chopping devices.

HAD being the key word.

I don’t want to reinforce my skepticism, but not all those things are still with us…

Broken.

Ineffective.

Lost (on purpose?).

I take just about any product claim with a supersized grain of salt.

Early in the summer a friend made wildly unbelievable claims about her water bottle – it keeps things COLD all day!  When I saw the thermos at the store and saw the price tag, I just slowly backed away.

There is NO WAY a bottle to carry water is worth in excess of $15.

Another friend bought one….peer pressure of the mommy variety set in.

I bought four – one for each boy and one for myself:

So I did a test -  I filled it with ice water at around 7:00 am.  I then took it on a day trip where we were outside for 5 hours in 95+ degree temperatures and then left it in the car for awhile.  I drank all the water.  When I reached for it at 6 pm to clean out the container, it clinked.

Clinked from the ice cubes that were still intact inside.

Are you kidding me?  Ice cubes intact after 11 hours?

I now use these thermoses to send fruit smoothies for school lunches with my boys.  They report that they can even wait until AFTER school to drink the smoothies and they are still cold and yummy.

I am a believer…sign me up for a testimonial in the infomercial.

if you give a kid a cookie

Before I had children, I loved the Laura Numeroff books.
***
If You Give a Moose a Muffin

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

If You Give  a Pig a Pancake
***
Now they just hit too close to home to be funny.

My children are the Moose, the Mouse and the Pig.

Click here to read the rest of the story over at June Cleaver Nirvana.

P.S. That picture is taken at the BRAND NEW SUPER COOL COMPLETELY GREAT Westchester Park in Flower Mound.

Just a few Random Thoughts in Summer

Well…it is probably more than a few.

If few is actually three or more.

Although, the more should cover it.

Summer has been busy.  More busy than the school year.  Is that possible?

It is probably because I have a tendency to NOT schedule stuff.  It seems so permanent when I enter it on my calendar…so anti-spontaneous.  This sans schedule tendency is NOT conducive to taking care of multiple children.  Probably wouldn’t even work if I only had one.

Rare is the activity/camp/VBS/etc. which accommodates ALL three of my kids.  Which means they are split up.  Which means there are more moving parts.  More moving parts means that there is an increased chance of breakage and loss, i.e. Holly driving all over town in a silver minivan with a big BurbMom.net sticker on the side.

I know my life is glamorous.

This week my older two were in golf camp and my youngest was subjected to the mind numbing boredom that is mommy’s attention at home.  It actually turned out good because he is a helper.  We sorted through all the toys.

All the toys.

I repeat.

All the toys.

This is not a simple task.  No toy in my entire house was hanging out with their like kind.

Bin after basket after drawer after shelf went a little like this…

One lego.

One book.

One tinker toy.

A beanie baby.

Two more legos.

A Happy Meal toy missing a wheel.

A Hot Wheel.

A Lincoln Log.

A Magnet.

and so on…and on…and on…

What has resulted after three days of intensive organizational therapy is a garage full of “baby” toys and two trash cans full of things that were broken, lost and generally not in any shape to give away.  Please do not speak of these two trash cans with my children.  They need not know they exist.

Which reminds me to give out this general warning…

DO NOT GO SEE TOY STORY THREE IF YOU ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF A MAJOR TOY OVERHAUL.

If you do, like I did, then you will feel BAD and SAD for all those toys that you are casting off.  Toys have feelings too?

I did find it a little ironic that one of the toys that has been left out of play and put in the donation bin was Buzz Lightyear.  Maybe it is because we didn’t have Woody.

Anyway, the toys are now sorted and everything has a place.

Whew.

Summer time is work.  I need a vacation from summer.

Cheeseburger Runzas with BONUS cinnamon rolls

I don’t cook.  Really, I don’t.

So when I DO cook it has to be EASY and taste GOOD or else it isn’t worth the PAIN.

This is one of my favorite recipes to eat.  It is something I have modified over time from the original Runza recipe I used to make as a child that was beef (in my case, veggie-beef) and cabbage.  Over time it became more beef, then real beef and less cabbage, then no cabbage, and then…why not add cheese!

Wah-la! The Cheeseburger Runza. I have also seen these named cheeseburger bierocks or cheeseburger buns, but I grew up in Nebraska where these type of things are called Runzas.  So that is what they are.

This recipe calls for bread dough so you can pick up some frozen/refrigerated at the grocery store OR pull out your 1991 Bread Machine that you got as a wedding present and resembles R2D2:

Here is the dough recipe – it can be thrown into the bread machine all at once without any prep:

1 1/4 cup of milk

2 tablespoons of butter

2 tablespoons of sugar

1 teaspoon of salt

3 cups of bread flour

2 1/2 teaspoons yeast
I set my bread machine on a non-baking cycle.  I start this in the morning and haven’t had trouble with it even if I don’t get to it by mid-afternoon.

The filling is simply ground beef, onions, tomato sauce and some cheese.

If you want to use all the dough then make this full recipe.*

If you want to save a portion of the dough for cinnamon rolls, then just cut this recipe in half:

2 pounds of beef

1-2 onions chopped

1 can (15 oz.) of tomato sauce

Brown the beef and add the onions.  Let the onions get a bit tender and add the tomato sauce.

You are ready to fill your dough!

Out of a full recipe I usually get around 24+ runzas of various sizes.  I like to make really small ones for the kids and larger ones for the adults.
Roll the dough out very thin, add the filling and then sprinkle on the cheese – my favorite is sharp cheddar.

Fold the sides in and make a little package.

Flip them over and put on greased baking sheet.  If you pause for a little while and let them rise the final product will look a little better.  Often I just pop them straight into the oven at this point because I am trying to get dinner on the table ASAP.

Bake them at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

Now, if you only did a 1/2 recipe then it is time for cinnamon rolls.  You will need lots of help.

First spread the left over dough with melted butter.
Then sprinkle sugar, brown sugar and cinnamon on top and spread it around.

Send all your helpers to the sink to clean up, roll up the dough, cut and bake at 400 for 10-18 minutes depending on your cinnamon roll size and pan density.

Alrighty people, time to eat.

Behold the Runza.

Behold the rolls of cinnamon.

*One argument against the cinnamon roll is that the left over runzas are yummy.  You can heat them up in the toaster oven at 400 for about 6 minutes or eat them cold.  Either way, I like mine dipped in ketchup.

Missing the Train

*re-edited with updated information!*

I am relieved to find out from a commenter that one of my favorite places in Fort Worth is NOT gone….we have just literally been missing the train.

The Forest Park Miniature Railroad is still in action.

Last fall, we tried to go and the parking lot was roped off and I justified that we were there at the wrong time of day.

Mid-winter, I tried again and the train station looked a little deserted, but I figured that they were now only open on weekends.

Yesterday we tried again.  And it is still not open. I jumped to the conclusion that it was gone forever.

*sigh*

Let me get all mushy for a moment…

We regularly took the train ride which was a 45 minute tour of Forest Park.  The boys loved it.  I loved it.  My in-laws often took them as well.  It was just about the perfect family outing for small boys.  Trains, bridges, parks, rivers, popcorn, whistles, etc.  Reid even had his fourth birthday party there.  It was the perfect prelude to a lunchtime breakfast at Old South Pancake House.

In today’s super high tech and noisy world, this is just good old fashioned fun…

Holly Goes to Driving School at the Texas Driving Experience

I was invited out to Texas Motor Speedway by the Texas Driving Experience for their Teen Skills Class.

The Teen Skills class is not driver’s education in the traditional sense.  It is for teens who already have a driver’s license and are ready to challenge their knowledge with practical hands-on experience.

Parents can enroll their kids in either a one or two day class.  I didn’t know what to expect and just set aside a full morning for this.  I regret not spending the full day to complete the class.

We started out with introductions in a classroom.  The teachers were all professional drivers and very interested in the kids.

Each person introduced himself and told what they drive.  I was the only one that admitted to driving a minivan.  I was also the only one over 18 years of age.

There were about 15 kids in the class and about 1/2 of them were local to the Dallas area.  I was surprised at how many of the teens had traveled to attend the Texas Driving Experience.

We stayed in the classroom for about 15 minutes and then it was out to the track for REAL driving lessons.

The first place we went was a portion of the large parking lot in the middle of the Texas Motor Speedway track.  Cones were set up for us there in different course configurations.  There was a NASCAR team practicing on the TMS track that morning which added a lot of noise and excitement.

They separated the class into cars – each car of teenagers had a driving instructor.  The Texas Driving Experience Instructor would drive the intended course once and then turn it over to one of the teens to take a turn.  There was never any down time because even if you weren’t the one driving you were in the car experiencing what was going on and learning from what was happening.

I was in a car of girls.  At first, they were timid and holding back.  This did not last long because the instructors really encouraged full participation and within a half an hour they were flooring the gas pedal and slamming on the brakes as instructed.  It was a visible difference of confidence through practice.

The floor it and then slam on the brake exercise was our second course.  We were to fully accelerate for 100 yards or so until we reached a specific pair of cones and then brake suddenly so we could get the feel of what would happen.  We practiced this 5 or 6 times until we were able to then guide the car in a turn while braking through the cone course.  After we accomplished this task with an ABS equipped Audi, we were given a car that didn’t have ABS and repeated the scenario.  I have known about the differences between ABS and non-ABS (and remembered that I was supposed to pump the brakes when driving the non-ABS), but I have never felt the difference.

One of the things I learned was to position my hands on the steering wheel at 9 and 3.  The Audis that we were driving had places to rest my thumbs and comfortably grip the wheel when holding it this way.  When I got home I found my minivan’s steering wheel was very similar and it is much easier to control the vehicle from this position.

They also stressed that you maintain the 9 and 3 hold as long as comfortable and then switch to a hand over hand turn of the wheel which was much different from the willy-nilly system of underhand wheel grabbing alternating with palm rotation I had previously used.

We then headed out to the wet track.

Yep. The parking lot was completely wet and we were shown how easy it was to accelerate rapidly and then turn 90 degrees which may or may not result in a donut…

Donut?

I will have to admit that I have been a very cautious driver over the years and never once have I ever intentionally done parking lot donuts.  I felt a little panic at the thought of it, but not wanting to let down the minivan-driving moms of America in the eyes of the American youth, I got in the car with three teenage girls and our instructor.

There was a lot of screaming (from the teenage girls and the 40 year old minivan driving mom) as each of us took multiple turns speeding through the parking lot and turning abruptly resulting in fishtailing and swerving and yes…donuts.

I haven’t had that much fun in YEARS.

Our instructor was quite possibly the most patient and unflappable person I have ever met.  When one of the girls took the corner by slamming on the gas instead of the brake as instructed he just smiled and told her that she should do it again.

And that is the beauty of this program…you do it again.  You take a high speed turn and lose control of the car (in a safe setting) and you feel how the car reacts to how you reacted and then you do it again.

And again.

Each time is more controlled and a less scary.

I now know what it feels like to be in control of a turn that feels completely out of my control, yet I know what to do and which way to steer and when to step on the gas.

It is pretty cool…and a little powerful!

I learned SO MUCH in just the 4 hours I participated in the Teen Skills class and I have been driving for 25 years.  I can’t even imagine what an asset these skills are to a beginning driver.  I have found myself more aware at the wheel and confident in my abilities.

Here is some of the video I shot during the morning:

I don’t have teenagers yet, but I can guarantee that they will be in this class.

I think it is that good.

I Wish He Represented MY District

Ever since Ryan(8) started to talk we have suspected that he has a future in the legal profession. He has shown excellence in the field of debate.

He has a passion for justice.

He has a gift for finding the loophole.

Should we send him to third grade or law school?

I am now wondering if any sort of school is necessary…maybe we should just send him straight to Congress.

Why Congress?

He has placed earmarks in the Nirvana budget through creative interpretation of the law.

The law: The boys each get a weekly allowance according to age. On each birthday their allowance increases by $1 per week.

Ryan recently had a birthday so his allowance was increased.

My husband and I then overheard him calculating new allowance rates for both Reid(5) and Rhett(3) whose birthdays are in June and December. These calculations were made with plans for increased brotherly spending on his behalf.

Me: Ryan! Reid and Rhett’s allowances won’t go up until their birthday. Only yours goes up this month.

Ryan: *with a twinkle of understanding in his eyes* You said we get an extra dollar on EACH birthday.

At that rate he will be receiving a Congressional salary before getting out of middle school...

When Holly isn’t researching law schools for Ryan, she can be found hanging out here at Burb Mom or writing at June Cleaver Nirvana.

Mom: Dream

This was originally written for my son’s eighth birthday…

For a long time you were just a dream.
The dream from which I could not awake…
that taught patience.
that was worth the wait.

You are my first born.
The wiggling recipient of first-time mothering…
of underwhelming technique.
of overwhelming love.

For a time you were my only dream.
Then more dreams became your brothers…
to divide my attention.
to multiply my love.

You are my original dream.
The dream that I get to live everyday…
to wake and keep dreaming.
to hug and kiss in wiggling resistance.

Holly is a DFW mom who despite being levelheaded prior to kids now is reduced to tears during Hallmark commercials.

Off to the Races…again

I started out for the races on Sunday with my husband, dad and brother.

We had a wonderful time at the Chevy Village of Champions, pit tours and lunch…

but no race.

Mother Nature was not treating Texas Motor Speedway kindly.  The radar LOOKED clear, but the rain fell all day.

By the end of the day they decided to reschedule both Saturday’s and Sunday’s races for Monday.

I headed back after dropping my older two boys at school with my four year old, Rhett and met my dad in the stands.

I played hooky.

I can’t even remember the last day when I ditched all responsibilities and did something just for fun.

We had a great time.  Rhett did really well at the races…I didn’t know what to expect from a 4 year old.  I just figured we would head out if he had had enough, but he hung in there until the very end.

His favorite part?

The wreck.

It happened right in front of us.  And so did the sweeper truck, the dryer truck, the sand truck, the ambulance, the giant tow truck, etc. that followed.

It was a truck-lover’s dream come true.

Here are pictures and story from both days...just click on the photo below to start the slide show.

Thank you Girlfriend Getaway DFW sponsored by the North Texas Chevy Dealers for the NASCAR tickets — we LOVED them.

Holly and Shauna get “informational”

As part of the North Texas Chevy Dealers’ Girlfriend Getaway…I HAD to get a massage.

And…

I HAD to invite someone…so I took Shauna.

Seriously, they are TORTURING us.

The good news is that ANYONE can participate in Girlfriend Getaway because EVERYONE who test drives a Malibu at a North Texas Chevy Dealer over the next week receives a free massage from Massage Envy.

Here is some really, super important information that Shauna and I put together for your…edutainment.

totally a word

Find out more about this offer at the Girlfriend Getaway DFW site and VOTE FOR HOLLY by clicking on the Sweepstakes tab.

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